• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will no longer be attending the NRA Convention in Houston in person. 
  • He will be giving a press conference at Uvalde High School instead, but will be giving a pre-recorded speech at the convention. 
  • His virtual appearance comes just days after a gunman opened fire on a fourth grade classroom in Uvalde. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is no longer attending Friday's NRA convention in Houston in person, but he is still giving a pre-recorded speech at the event, a spokesperson for the governor told the Dallas Morning News.

His virtual appearance at the event comes just days after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, killing 19 students and two teachers. 

In place of his in-person appearance at the convention, Abbott will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. local time at Uvalde High School, The Hill reported, citing a press release from the governor's office. 

Abbott is still listed as a featured speaker on the NRA convention website. 

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's office, meanwhile, announced Friday that he would no longer be speaking at the NRA Convention breakfast, a reversal since Tuesday's shooting. 

"I would not want my appearance today to bring any additional pain or grief to the families and all those suffering in Uvalde," Patrick said in a statement posted to Twitter.

The gun manufacturer whose rifle was used in the shooting announced Friday that they, too, were pulling out of the event. 

"Daniel Defense is not attending the National Rifle Association ("NRA") meeting due to the horrifying tragedy in Uvalde, Texas where one of our products was criminally misused," a company spokesperson confirmed to Insider in a statement. 

It added: "We believe this week is not the appropriate time to be promoting our products in Texas at the NRA meeting."

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will be speaking at the event, as will former President Donald Trump. 

At a press conference Wednesday, Abbott said the elementary school shooting in Uvalde "could have been worse" and praised officers on the scene for their hard work.

But Texas police are facing backlash for what many are calling a delayed police response to the massacre. Authorities said Thursday that the gunman was barricaded inside a classroom, shooting at students, for at least 40 minutes before authorities neutralized him. 

Democratic Texas governor candidate Beto O'Rourke, who got into a confrontation with Abbott at an earlier press conference about Uvalde, called on the governor to withdraw from the NRA convention. 

"If you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend's NRA convention," O'Rourke tweeted Wednesday. 

Abbott's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. 

 

 

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